by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Without contracts for television and sponsorship, the Gator Bowl Association plunged into its next season Tuesday evening,
The TV and sponsorships should be resolved soon, said President Rick Catlett, who left the Omni meeting early to fly to New York City to continue negotiations with television networks.
The sponsorship comes next and the association is expected to ask Toyota for a substantial increase in order to help it raise team payouts from $1.6 million to $2.5 million per team in the Jan. 1 game.
“We have a challenge in ticket sales,” the 2006 chair-elect, Wachovia Region President Kelly Madden, told about 100 committee members. “We’re coming off the best year ever and we have to top that.”
The GBA has about 220 committee members and all are expected to sell tickets. Persons who bought last year have until May 1 to renew and then the general sales campaign will start.
Sales will be for both the Dec. 2 Atlantic Coast Conference championship game and the Jan. 1 Toyota Gator Bowl. Starting in the 2007 season, the association also will manage an early-season series between Florida State and Alabama.
“This organization has done wonderful things for the city and we’re going to focus on that,” said 2006 chair Scott Keith, city president of the BB&T banks. “We’re here to help Jacksonville and we will.”
He formally introduced Madden as the chair-elect (she’ll be the second female to lead the association after CSX’s Susan Hamilton in 2003) and named the executive committee. Brian Goin of The Players Championship was named to chair the Game Operations Committee, traditionally the immediate stepping stone to the chair-elect post.
Keith and Madden also handed out sales awards to committee members for their 2005 work with Allen Skipper, vice president of Peak 10, being the overall leader.
In addition to Keith, Madden, Goin and Skipper, the executive committee includes Bob Shields of Copytronics, secretary-treasurer; Fred Franklin, an attorney with Rogers Towers, general counsel; Dan Murphy of Fidelity National Financial; YMCA CEO Trigg Wilkes; Mary O’Brien of Advanced Disposal; Dan Dieterle of Harden and Associates; Andy Pradella of Mercury Luggage; attorney John Donahoo; Bob Moore of Southeast Toyota and Ken Tonning of Ch. 12/25.
Also on the committee are past chairmen Mike Hartley, Bob White, Bob Smith, Jim McCollum and Leerie Jenkins.